Monday, March 28, 2011

This is a map of County Limerick, Ireland. Section labeled Killmallock is my area of interest. ( the southeast area colored in light blue)
The parishes of Ardpatrick, Kilfinnane, Bulgaden, and Ballylanders are where I find my immediate ancestors.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

1) Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.

2) Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.

3) Tell us how many surnames are in your database and, if possible, which Surname has the most entries. If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5! Or 10!

4) Write about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a status or comment on Facebook.

I used Roots Magic as Randy did. I began trying to use Family Tree Maker 2009 but was unable to find a way to list by surname only. My report was only 18 pages long but revealed that I have about 809 surnames in my data base of 3066 individuals.

Previously, I wrote about my grandfather, M J Connery of Kilfinnane, County Limerick, Ireland. As I wrote about the name, I realized how little actual research I had done on M J. I had blindly accepted the family stories as fact. This week was the time to remedy this error.

The name Connery is from the gaelic O Maolconaire or follower of Conaire. It is a variant of the name Conrey. The name is said to be found originally around Galway, Ireland. According to Castel Garden records there were 303 immigrants while Ellis Island shows 167 Connerys in their records. These are not accurate counts since many Connerys entered several times. I guess seeing these numbers that the name Connery is not as common as I always thought.

Searching the Chicago City Directories, I followed my grandfather from the earliest known listing for Michael J Connery in 1888 as a bartender and living at 163 N Paulina. By 1889 he is boarding with the Michael Connery who is a policeman in Chicago. This may have been a means of saving money since by 1890 he owned a saloon at 161 N Paulina and was living at 544 Austin Ave. M J remained a saloon keeper until 1912 when he entered the Real Estate business where he remained until his death in 1953. M J appears in the Chicago Voters List as a voter in 1888 and states that he has been a resident of Illinois for 8 years and filed his citizenship papers in Cook County. I have also been able to document M J's participation in Chicago's St Patrick's Day Parade. On Mar 15, 1896, the Daily Inter Ocean newspaper listed M J as an aide to Grand Marshall Martin Mulcahey. Not sure about the white horse yet since I can't find the documentation other than his obituary.

There is still more to try to find about M J and his family. Maybe his naturalization records will help to pinpoint his actual arrival. I know his parents and his mother's parents but not much more. M J was one of 11 children and I only have information on one brother and two sisters.

Friday, March 18, 2011

How exciting - I've been awarded the Lovely Blog Award twice in one day! Both dee-burris of http://thefacesofmyfamily.blogspot.com and Lisa Swanson Eliam of http://thefacesofmyfamily.blogspot.com honored me on the same day. Thanks very much ladies!

With the award comes responsibility. Here are the rules:
Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who granted the award and their blog link.

Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered.

Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for the award.

Here are the bloggers I've chosen:

Daniel Dillman at indianadillmans.blogspot.com
Alanna of Confessions of a Geneaholic at http://alanna-fant.blogspot.com
Abby at http://desperategenie.com,
C C at http://pollysgranddaughter.blogspot.com,
Minnesota Family Historian at http://mnfamilyhistorian.blogspot.com
Sarah at http://geneapprentice.blogspot.com
Claudia at http://claudiasgenealogyblog.blogspot.com
Jennifer at http://www.climbingmyfamilytree.com
Leslie Ann at http://ancestorslivehere.blogspot.com
http://dkaysdays.com/
Linda Re at http://betweenthegateposts.blogspot.com
Danielle at pidwashername.blogspot.com
tlgenes@blogspot.com
Deb-adventuresingenealogy.blogspot.com
tangledtrees.blogspot.com

Monday, March 14, 2011

Week 11: Illness and Injury. Describe your childhood illnesses or injuries. Who took care of you? Did you recuperate in your own bed, on the couch in front of the television, or somewhere else? 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2011) that invite genealogists and others to record memories and insights about their own lives for future descendants?

When I was growing up, I seemed to get a strep infection on an almost annual basis. I was miserable and couldn't even swallow. I would lay in my bed with cool washrags on my forehead. As I began to get better I would begin reading my mysteries. I was cared for by my mother with some help from my younger sister.

The only injury (aside from the usual skinned knees) I suffered was a sprained ankle incurred in a game of dodgeball in high school. It was winter and college test time. Getting on and off a bus to go take SATs while on crutches was a challenge with the ice and snow!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

March 6th was Girl Scout Sunday but our church made no mention of the occasion. They didn't mention Boy Scout Sunday in February either. My granddaughters wore their vests to church but nothing was mentioned. In years past Scout Sunday was a big deal with flags processed into the church, scouts acting as ushers and performing other duties in the service. Sometimes there was even a special flyer in the church bulletin.

In the past children were proud of their uniform and wore it proudly to school. Now being seen in a scout uniform is to be avoided at all costs unless selling popcorn or cookies. Boy Scouts are still becoming Eagle Scouts and Girl Scouts are still earning Gold Awards, so what changed?

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Michael Joseph Connery (M J) left Limerick and immigrated to the United States in 1888. He was joined by his 16 year old sister Cath on the ship Alaska which docked in New York on July 30,1888. He was one of 11 children which might explain his choice to immigrate.

I have explored MJ's siblings and their descendants, but have not studied the surname Connery. The 1901 census for Ireland shows 450 entries for the surname Connery with 129 Connerys living in County Limerick and 10 in Kilfinnane which is MJ's birthplace. The 1911 census of Ireland shows 467 entries with 114 in Limerick and 20 entries for Kilfinnane. In contrast, the 1900 Census of the United States there were 79 Connerys with 7 Connerys in Illinois and 3 living in Cook County, Illinois. The 1910 Census lists 71 Connerys with 7 in Illinois and 6 in Cook County. I only looked for Connerys who were born in Ireland. New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois had the highest number of Connerys listed in both the 1900 and 1910 census.

I will need to further explore the name Connery. There must be more to find.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I have jumped on the Google bandwagon! As I explored the many facets of Google, I found that I could create websites for free! I belong to a small genealogy group which charges no dues and thus has no money. The group needs to develop a web presence to increase their visibility in the community. If we have a website we can link to the local library website as well as the town website. Just think how many more people will know that we exist!

Google sites will allow the uploading of slide shows and photos. It even has the capability of notifying members of changes to the website. Google sites has multiple templates to choose from and allows collaborators to edit and change the website. I am currently experimenting with a practice site. I like that it can be kept private until you feel that the site is ready to go public. It doesn't seem any more difficult use than blogger and has many of the same features. You can have multiple websites too!